2007: Year In Business

High gas prices are posted at a Shell gas station in San Mateo, Calif., in this Nov. 14, 2007 file photo. Oil's run to nearly $100 a barrel this year jacked up the cost of travel, clothing, beauty products and milk, and many analysts think fuel prices will remain at historically lofty levels throughout 2008.

Credit: AP

Keira O'Keefe, 2, eats a snack in a grocery cart, in this June 15, 2007 file photo at a grocery store in Danvers, Mass. Wholesale inflation posted a better-than-expected reading in June as both food and energy costs retreated while industrial production staged a strong rebound.

Credit: AP

The newly designed trade floor of the Frankfurt stock market is seen during its inauguration in Frankfurt, central Germany, in this Feb. 26, 2007 file photo.

Credit: AP

Customer Alison Leupold looks unhappy after she pumped $72.83 worth of gas at Menlo Atherton Shell gas station in Menlo Park, Calif. in this March 7, 2007 file photo. Oil's run to nearly $100 a barrel this year jacked up the cost of travel, clothing, beauty products and milk, and many analysts think fuel prices will remain at historically lofty levels throughout 2008.

Credit: AP

Travis Toth, left, an auctioneer of trustee sales for Fidelity National, reads descriptions of foreclosed properties offered for sale as potential buyers contemplate bids during a home foreclosure auction on the steps of the Los Angeles County courthouse in Norwalk, Calif. in this March 16, 2007 file photo.

Credit: AP

A bidder, who declined to give his name, watches the action as Travis Toth, an auctioneer of trustee sales for Fidelity National, reflected in the man's sunglasses, read descriptions of foreclosed properties offered for sale during a home foreclosure auction on the steps of the Los Angeles County courthouse in Norwalk, Calif. in this March 16, 2007 file photo.

Credit: AP

NYSE Euronext Chairman Jan-Michiel Hessels, left, and NYSE Euronext CEO John Thain walk the NYSE trading floor before they rang the closing bell, in this April 4, 2007 file photo, in New York. The creation of NYSE Euronext, the world's biggest stock exchange, signals a new era in global consolidation of financial markets, with its stock traded continuously for 13 hours a day on two continents.

Credit: AP

Warren Buffett, left, and Bill Gates play table tennis at the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha, Neb., in this May 6, 2007 file photo.

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An overgrown sign sits on the lawn of an old house for sale in Newtown, Penn., in this May 30, 2007 file photo. Reflecting further housing troubles, sales of existing homes fell in May to the lowest level in four years while the median home price dropped for a record 10th consecutive month.

Credit: AP

A sign is seen inside the interior of an unoccupied single family home offered in a lender foreclosure home auction in Burbank, Calif. in this Oct. 11, 2007 file photo.

Credit: AP

An auction sign is seen in front of a foreclosed home in Shaker Heights, Ohio in this Oct. 30, 2007 file photo.

Credit: AP

An AvFlight employee fuels a plane on the tarmac at Harrisburg International Airport, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007, in Middletown, Pa. Oil's run to nearly $100 a barrel this year jacked up the cost of travel, clothing, beauty products and milk, and many analysts think fuel prices will remain at historically lofty levels throughout 2008.